We've got disaster fatigue, doggone it: A monologue by Manuel Torres

Struck by two man-made catastrophes in five years -- the failure of federal levees in Katrina and the BP oil spill -- South Louisiana residents have had it.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneThe Deepwater Horizon rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21.Katrina's death toll and destruction are incomparable, of course. Five years later, our anger about the failed response after that disaster still simmers just below the surface. We feel it again after five weeks of watching BP foul up our coast.

We're once again cursing at failures by supposedly top-notch engineers and frustrated by the lack of butt-kicking in the federal response. Local officials are even crying on national TV again.

Yet no one has voiced our anger this time as clearly as then-Mayor Ray Nagin did just days after Katrina in his famous WWL radio interview. His outburst produced Da Mayor in Your Pocket, a contraption that plays six memorable phrases from the interview.

We no longer have C. Ray to kick around, but here's South Louisiana's message to BP and others, as voiced by Da Mayor in Your Pocket.

To BP's Blabber in Chief Tony Hayward, who called the disaster a "tiny" spill in a "vast" ocean: "You gotta be kiddin' me."

To government agencies that have been meek in their handling of the worst oil spill in U.S. history: "This is a national disaster!"

To BP and the Coast Guard, who at times have been slow cleaning up the oil: "Get their asses movin' to New Orleans!"

To anyone at BP and the government who has anything to do with controlling the spill and cleaning it up: "Let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country."

To those suggesting we chill: "Excuse my French everybody in America ... But I'm pissed."

....................

Manuel Torres is an editorial writer. E-mail him at mtorres@timespicayune.com; phone, 504.826.3434.